Trying to slim down... Way down....

mnemonic0ne

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
May 24, 2018
3
1
Gents

I am trying to seriously slim down the space my workstation takes up in my office. I am currently running a Fractal
Define R6 Black with Asus MB, i7-6700k and GTX950 with 32 GB of RAM. The machine is still quite fast having been built last year and works well for the type of tasks it is asked to complete.

Development
IT Support Operations (RDP, SSH, etc)
GIS Mapping
Photo processing (Photoshop, Lightroom, etc)
Tons of concurrent applications (Chrome, Excel, etc)

Needless to say, I don't need a gaming monster (I don't game), but I need something rock solid that is able to handle a ton of open applications as I bounce around to my various tasks throughout the day. So in the search for how to tackle my problem I have ventured down the rabbit hole and found SFF... I'm not quite sure if I should be ecstatic to find such a wealth of information and resources in my quest... Or scared to death that I have infected myself with such a wonderful contagion.

Build Requirements

Small Form Factor (duh!)
Equal Performance to my existing workstation
Low Noise - Less spinning stuff?
Reduce Heat Dump into Office - Lower TDP

On to the prospective build....Please give me any feedback that you might have on the list of parts that I am considering using.

Case - Skyreach 4 MINI (ordered) - Love the look and with the wood 3D bezel it will be an amazing addition
CPU - Between i7-8700 and i7-8700T
MB - Asus ROG Strix H370-I
GPU - PNY Quadro P1000 (low profile to allow brickless PS option, has 4 DP1.4 to drive monitor array)
RAM - G.Skill TridentZ 16 GB x 2
Storage - Samsung 970 PRO (512GB) Boot with Samsung 950 PRO and 850 PRO (512 GB) for Data / Scratch Drives
PS - HDPLEX 160W AC-DC with HDPLEX 160W DC-ATX
Displays - Dell 3417w with (2) 2717D (already own)

My question really revolves around the power supply being enough for the i7-8700 at 65w. I really want my build to be brickless if at all possible (again to simplify and slim down my current setup). PCPartPicker calc'd a top end of 211w with the 65w TDP CPU and 181w with the 35w TDP CPU. I know 211w and 181w are both more than 160w rating of the PS, but I keep reading/seeing that the HDPLEX can do 200w without issue, is this a reality?

Passmark scores put the 8700T almost half-way between my existing 6700k and the 8700, so I'd be getting a bit of a speed bump and a hell of a lot cooler case (and office). But I really hate to give up the extra speed of the 8700. I suppose I could wait for the rumored bigger PS, but I really can't hold off much longer as my 'old' machine needs to be repurposed for a new hire (I want the new stuff!!).

-M
 
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Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,936
I can't see that pulling 211W. Pretty sure the GPU (P1000) is a ~50W part while the CPU should be pulling 70-80W max and probably less. I can't see your build being an issue TBH. Also you can use the brickless setup in the S4M as long as you have a reference height card (111.15mm tall).
 

Thirumal Kumaran

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jan 22, 2018
146
67
Welcome to the SFF family & S4Mini subfamily...
I have the 8700 (Non-k) and 2x2.5tb hdd, 1050ti, 16gb ram on the HDplex 160 AC-DC & 160 DC-DC setup..
It pulls max 105w on gaming & 180w on synthetic benchmarks.. (Not even close to PSU Calculators give)
you can upgrade to P2000 and still have room left for the Power supply.

BTW, If the 160 AC-DC is the new 3 prong one... I heard it can handle 200w easily.
 

jmarin

Airflow Optimizer
Mar 8, 2018
258
187
Don't see anything about a CPU cooler, but that and the Quadro would be your biggest sources of noise, so keep that in mind when shopping.
 

mnemonic0ne

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
May 24, 2018
3
1
Yes, I would be running the Noctua CPU cooler, thought I had mentioned that, but it’s pretty much the default choice so a safe assumption. I think the order will be placed tomorrow, so appreciate all the advise.